Side door for railway box cars



Aprii 2, 1929. A, E, SMALL 1,107,239

SIDE DOOR FOR RAILWAY BOX CARS Filed Sept. 1, 1927 Jfivnior gr: u/E. Sm all Patented Apr. 2, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR E. SMALL, Oil" CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .ASSIGNOR TO RAILWAY METALPR ODU CTS COMPANY, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

sine noon non RAILWAY BOX CARS.

Application filed September My device relates to a railway car having a door opening in its side walland a door arranged to move horizontally to close the door opening. Such a door may be supported upon the side s1ll by brackets with anti-friction rollers mounted therein, (as illustrated) or it may be supported by sus pension hangers engaging a track supported by the side plates adjacent the top of the door opening. The front vertical edge of the door is provided with a stiii'ener or frame member having a tongue or extension which engages a front door stop mounted on the front door post and the rear vertical edge of the door is provided with, a stiffener or frame member having a tongue or ere tension which engagesa rear locking strip mounted on the rear door post. These front and reartongue engagements form weatherproof and burglarproof joints. The upper horizontal edge of the door is it-ended with a stiffener, frame member or a top interlocking strip (as, showi'i in the draw ngs) and the bottom edge is provided with a frame member or perhaps a bottom track with a vertical depending iip behind the supporting bracket illustrated) The front, rear, top and. bottom stiiieners are secured together at the corners of the door to form a rectangular frame. It is common practice to stiffen the four sides of a wooden door with such. frame men'lbers and to stiffen the wooden door with battens, stiles and intermediate horizontal metal stiffening strips, but my device is an i1nprovcment thereon and contemplates the use of a relatively thin. metallic plate rigidly secured to such a frame (or formed integral therewith) with integral horizontal, vertical or diagonal corrugations or embossments formed. therein which transmit any loads or thrusts imposed. thereon to the frame members. Boards or grain doors are sometimes nailed to the inside of the door posts to prevent the lading bearing agair t the door, but more frequently, par icula ly in package lading, the cargo bears against the door and the impact of the car in service causes a wedging action between the cargo and the door. A side door is subjected to quite a few forces which have a tendency to distort the rectangularity of the door and cause buckling stresses in the door body plate. Such forces are caused by the door 1, 1927. Serial No. 216,964.

being moved suddenly to a closed position when either the upper corner or lower corner of the door strikes the front door stop before the other corner does. This condition caused by the door opening be ing out of square. Such forces are also caused when the door suddenly hits the back door stop an eccentric blow. The crow-bar when used to open a door is another source of trouble. 7

Considerable d1fliculty is experienced with warping of wooden doors and the fabrication of flat steel plates with metallic stiffener-s is expensive and results in a very heavy door and even corrugated metallic doors have been proposed but they lack the strength andresiliency of my design.

The object of my device is to provide integral ribs or corrugations in a metallic plate when used as a side door for a railway car which transmit any stresses imposed thereon to frame members at the opposite edges of the metallic plate, which frame members, with other similar frame members, form a rectangular frame for the door. And a further object is to so fornr and. shape such embossments or corrugations as to impart strength and rigidiy to the plate adjacent its middle or lower portion and to impart resiliency and flexibility to the plate adjacent the ends of the corrugations adjacent the oppositely disposed 1 time members.

Another object is to obtain the desired strength, rigidity and resiliency by forming a side door of a metallic plate with integral corrugations or ribs which taper in width toward their opposite ends and other preferably alternate corrugations or ribs which project in the opposite direction therefrom and which increase in width toward their opposite ends, the opposite ends of the last mentioned corrugations being formed to provide a certain amount of resiliency to enable the plate to deflect and return to its normal position Without appreciable pen manent distortion.

Another object is to form a side door of a metallic plate with a plurality of corrugations which are all of thesame depth and of equal depth for the major portion of their length so as to form flush surface on one side ofthe plate and to also form the plate with corrugations a substantially positionedipreferably alternately therebetween which are deepest adjacent their middle and decrease in depth toward their opposite, ends. Another object is to merge theIadjacentportions of the oppositely pro- 1 jecting corrugations into each other so as tions; I-Another ob ect is to provide such a curto provide, in efl'ect, a plurality of corrugations having a depth equal to the total depth of the oppositely projecting corrugarugated metallic plate whichcan be formed by pressing it (when heated, if necessary)- between dies which move toward each other in one direction only.

.In the drawings:

'F'igql is a fragmentary side elevation of arailway car equipped with a side door comprising my improvement.

Figs. 2 and 3 are sections on line 22 and line 33 respectively of Fig. 1.

vFigs. 4*. and 5 are sections on line t-l and line 5-5 respectively of Fig. 1 with the car parts omitted.

I asto provide, ineffect, a plurality of par- 21-1161, corrugations having a depth equal to .thetotal' depth of the oppositely projecting corrugations. For a" space 6 adjacent their middle, the corrugations arespaced apart distances equal to their widths so that the neutralaxis of the corrugated section is midway between the bounding planes of the corrugated structure. The apices 7-8 of the corrugations are preferably arched so as to -transmit. any load imposed upon them to the opposite side walls 4. of the corrugations. This arched formation has the further. advantage of reducing the stretch of the metal in pressing the corrugations in-the plate. I have" used the terms embossments and depressions in the speci- I fication andclaims to avoid confusion and diiferentia te between the corrugations projecting one way from the original plane 9 of the-plate and those projecting in the opposite direction thereto, but otherwise 7 I *contemplate no difference in the meaning of the terms.

In the construction illustrated the embossments 2 have a constant width and depth for a space-6 adjacent the middle of theplate'and then decrease in width (and preferably-also indepth) until they merge into the original plane 9 of the plate.

The. depressions 3 are preferably positioned alternately between the embossments 2 and preferably have a constant width and .depth for the space (3 adjacent the middle of the plate corresponding to embossment 2 and then preferably maintain a constant depth but increase in width toward their opposite ends proportionately to the decrease-in width of the embossments so that the adjacent sides 4 of the embossments and depressions are parallel, and in the preferred form, these sides merge into each other for substantially the entire length of these elements.

The extremities of the depressions 2% are split or divided to form ribs 11 which decrease in depth and also preferably in width toward the'middle of the depressions. The embossments, depressions and ribs merge into each other adjacent their extremities so as to form a sinuous configuration, as shown in Figs. 5 and 8, wherein the several divided portions 12 of the depressions are spaced apart distances equal to their width so that the neutral axis is midway between the bounding planes of the corrugated structure. The depressions are provided with terminal. portions 13 which merge into the original plane of the plate.

The various contours of the corrugations are such that the lengths of the center lines of the metal at all cross sections of the corrugated portion of the plate normal to the corrugations are equal. Furthermore, the metal is so disposed as to provide the required strength at any cross section thereof to sustain an equally distributed load.

Fig. l. shows the embossments 2. depressions 3 and the ribs 11 which divide the depressions at their opposite ends.

The embossments and depressions may be of equal depth or one group may be deeper than. the other group to suit conditions. In the form illustrated the embossmcnts are shallower than the depressions.

' Figs. 3, i and 5 show the depressions and embossments with flat apices forming a truncated configuration and Figs. (3, 7 and 8 show a modified form wherein the depressions and embossments have arcuate apices forming a sinuous configuration.

The metallic plate forming the main. element of the side door is formed with a plurality of corrugations projecting in opposite directions from the original plane of the plate which are preferably relatively deep and relatively wide adjacent their middle and perhaps for a distance on each side thereof so as to form a relatively strong structure and relatively rigid structure at a predetermined place where greater strength is required. Some of these corrugations have their opposite ends divided or bifurcated to form a greater number of corrugations which are preferably relatively shallow and relatively narrow adjacent the ends of the corrugations or adjacent the ill) ill)

frame or supporting members so as to provide a relatively resilient structure to cushion the shocks received by the corrugations and to yieldingly transmit them to the supporting members. These narrower corrugations formed by the division of the corrugations can easily be proportioned to have ample strength as beams to support any load imposed upon :them by the stronger portion of the corrugations; i. e., the section modulus can be made commensurate with the bending moments.

This is a contii'luation in. part oi? my application Serial No. 120,732, filed July 6, 1926, wherein l have disclosed and claimed broadly the particular :liormation. of a 111% tallic plate and spi-icifically the use of such a structure as a wall for a railway car, and in my co-pending application (also a continuation in part of my application Serial lilo-120,732, liled July 6, 1926,) I have specifically disclosed and claimed the use oil' such a structure as a hopper door for a railway car.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred term of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details oi? construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof within the scope of the claims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

l. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members, said plate provided with a plurality of embossn'ients decreasing in width toward their ends and terminating within the plate adjacent the frame members, and a plurality ot depressions increasing in width. toward their ends and terminating within the plate adj acent the frame members, said enibossments and de n'essions projecting in opposite directions from the original plane of the plate, the ends of the depressions being); divided to form ril 2. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising;- a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members,

said plate provided with a plurality of emllOSSlDGDbS decreasing in width toward their ends and. terminating within the plate adjacent the frame members, and a plurality oi depressions increasing in width toward their ends and terminatingwithin the plate adjacent the frame members, said embossinents and depressions projection; in opposite directions from the original plane of the plate, the ends of the depressions being divided to form ribs, said embossments, ribs and divided portions of the depressions all. being the same with adjacent the frame members. i

A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members,

said plate provided with a plurality of embossments decreasing in width toward their ends and terminating within the plate adjacent the frame members, and a plurality of depressionsincrezsin r in width toward their ends and termi: .nr within the plate adjacent theirame members, said einbossments and depressions projecting in opposite directions from the or' rinal: plane oi? the plate, the endsofthe depressions being, divided to term ribs, said einbossi'nents and depressions being equal in width adjacent their medial line.

t, A lmrizontally movable side door for a rail'awy car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members, said plate provided with a plurality of embossments decreasing in width toward. their ends and terminating; within the plate adjacent the frame members, and a plurality of di-ipressions increasing in width toward their ends and. ternnnating with. r the plate adjacent the frame members, said elnboss ments and depressions projecting in opposite directions from the original plane ot. the plate, the ends t the depressions being; divided to term ribs, said einbossinents and depressions being equal in width and of constant"width equi-distant on opposite Ides of the medial line.

5. A horizontally movable side door for a. railway car comprising a metallic plate and op iositely disposed trame ineniliers, said plate provided with a plurali y of carb smeats decreasing in width toward their ends and tt-irminatingr within the plate ad jacent the frame members, and a plurality of depressions positioned alterinilely therewithincreasing in width toward their ends and terminating within the plate adjacent the frame members, said enibossinests and de iressions projecting in opposite directions from the original plane of the plate, the ends of the, depressions being divided to form ribs with the sides oi the embossrnenls merging into the adjacent sides oil? the drpressions. V j

(3. A horizontally movable side door tor arailway car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members, said plate provided witha plurality i' one bosslnents decreasing;- in width toward their ends and ternihnlting within the plate adjacentthe trame men'ibers, and a plurality oil depressions positioned alternately there with increasing in width toward heir ends.

and terminating within. the plate adjac the frame melnl said enibosi-ismenls depressions projec ,inp; in opposite directions 'T 11']. the original plane of the plate, the ends of the depressions beingdivided to term ribs with the sides of the einbossments merging into the adjacent sides of the depre'ssioris: for substantially the entire length of these elements.

7. Ahorizontally movable side door for a railway' car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members, said: plate provided with'a plurality of embossments decreasing in width and in depth bossments decreasing in width toward their endsand terminating Within'tlie plate adjacent the framemembers, and a plurality of depressions of constant depth the major portion of their length and increasing in 'width toward their ends and terminating Within the plate adjacent the frame members, said embossments and depressions projecting in oppesitedirections from the original plane of the plate, the ends of the depressions being divided tov form ribs.

9. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a. metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members, said plateprovided with a plurality of embossments decreasing in width toward their ends and. terminating within the plate adjacent the frame members, and a plurality of depressions positioned. alternately therewith of constant depth themaj'or portion of their length and increasing in width toward their ends and terminating within the plate ad'- jacent the frame. members,said embossments and. depressions projecting: in opposite directions from the original plane of the plate,

the ends of the depressions being dividedto form. ribs.

10. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed. frame members, said plate" provided with a plurality of embossments decreasing in width toward their ends and terminating within the plate adjacent' the frame members, and a plurality of depressions positioned alternately therewith of constant depth the major portion of their length and increasing in width toward their ends and terminating within the plateadjacent the frame members, said embossments and depressionsprojecting in opposite directions from the origlnal plane of the plate,'the endsof the depressions being divided to form r1bs, said embossments,.r1bs

and'divided portions of the depressions all amazes being the same width adjacent the fame members,-.said embossinents and depressions being equal in width adjacent their medial line with the sides of the embossments merging into the adjacent sides of the depressions for substantially the entire length of these elements.

11. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a metallic )late and oppositely disposed frame mem ers, said metallic plate formedv with a plurality of corrugations projecting in opposite directions from the original plane of the plate, some of which hafe their opposite ends divided so as to provide a relatively rigid structure at a predetermined place between said frame members, and a relatively resilient structure adjacent each of said frame members.

12. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members, said.

metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations projecting in opposite dircctions from the original plane of the plate, some of which have their opposite ends divided so as to provide a relatively rigid structure at a predetermined place between said frame members which gradually becomes a relatively resilient structure adjacent each of said frame members.

13. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame membcrs,said metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations projecting in op iosite directions from the original plane of the plate which are relatively deep adjacent. their middle portions, some of which: have their opposite ends divided to form. a greater number of relatively shallow corrugations adjacent their end portions so as to provide a relatively rigid structure at a predetermined place between said frame members and a relatively resilient structure adjacent said frame members.

14. A horizontally movable side door for a railway car comprising a metallic plate and oppositely disposed frame members, said metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations projecting, in opposite directions from the original plane of the plate which are relatively deep and relatively Wide adjacent their middle portions, some of which have their opposite ends divided to form a greater number of relatively shallow and relatively narrow corrugations adjacent their end portions so as to provide a relatively rigid structure at a predetermined place between said frame membersand which gradually becomes a. relatively resilient structure adjacent said frame mem- ARTHUR E. SMALL.

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